Archive for March 17th, 2010
Falling Through Space
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
Howard seems more anxious than usual
to see me this morning -
him waiting for his wife to finish exercising,
me having just showered
after water aerobics.
In greeting, he tells me he had
the craziest dream last night -
he was falling through space
and landed on his head,
which he rubs vigorously.
Again, he reminds me he’s had
Parkinson’s for fifteen years and
he’s originally from California
where the Silicon Valley now is,
from a large family of farmers.
I ask him to tell me more about
his dream, and he asks, What dream?
I tell him I had a crazy dream last night, too -
I was chasing naked girls and
couldn’t catch them.
He looks at me, either bewildered
or fascinated, and asks,
rubbing his sore bald spot,
serious as I’ve ever seen him,
Did you fall on your head, too?
(Published in 2008 online in Chantarelle’s Notebook)
Note: This conversation with Howard occurred one morning at the Derda Center in Broomfield, CO, where Irene and I go for our workouts. I love to chat with people, and Howard became a recognizable chat-mate over a period of months. Most of his parlance was pretty much the same, hum-drum stuff, until this particular morning. Not knowing quite how to answer his opening salvo about falling through space, I invented a dream of my own – oh, wouldn’t I love to chase naked girls! – and it made him pause and reflect: maybe thinking, is this guy for real or off his rocker. His final question was, in my estimation, the perfect response. Sorry to say, don’t see Howard around any more.
